Saturday, June 28, 2014

I Hate The War

Pompous Marie Harf, State Dept spokesperson, is mocked in Arab media and she brings it on herself. Maybe her blunt -- and, at times, insipid remarks are better than the ease with which Jen Psaki or Victoria Nuland or Philip Crowley or Sean McCormack or . . .

From the June 24th State Dept press briefing:QUESTION: One way to interpret taking into account the new
realities on the ground would be taking into account the Peshmerga’s
seizure of Kirkuk. Does the U.S. Government believe that Kirkuk and its
oil reserves now belong to the Kurdish Regional Government?MS. HARF: Well, look, our position on the export or sale of
oil inside Iraq, anywhere inside Iraq, is the – has to happen with the
appropriate approval of the federal Iraqi Government, that it is,
indeed, owned by the Iraqi Government. Obviously, there are – we talked
about this in here – whether the – when other people, including the
Kurds, have tried to export it absent that approval, and we’ve said,
obviously, we don’t support that. But look, the situation on the ground
is fluid. Many people, including the Security Council, have called on
Baghdad and Erbil to reach an accord on oil – on all pending subjects,
including energy.QUESTION: But that’s been happening for 11 years. I mean – but they’ve been – there have been calls for that for 11 years. It has --MS. HARF: I’m aware of the history.QUESTION: It hasn’t happened, and the change on the ground
that one would guess the Kurdish leader is talking about is a big one,
which is that they now hold what they regard as their historic capital
and its oil reserves. And so it sounds like your answer is, no, it
doesn’t belong to the KRG, it belongs to a federal Iraqi state for as
long as there is one. Is that fair?

MS. HARF: It’s that our position hasn’t changed.

No more pretty. Little pretense that sides aren't and weren't chosen.

Repeatedly, the State Dept has insisted they weren't taking sides on the oil issue and more gifted speakers have been able to walk the line so that there was the possibility that State wasn't choosing sides. Their actions made clear they were backing Nouri but their words gave the indication that maybe that wasn't the case and actions were accidental or the product of chaos and not a plan that State was following.

Then Marie Harf clomps into the room and makes clear, it is an anti-Kurd position and that it always has been.

But a hiccup, this week, a hiccup.

A legal victory for the Kurds. The KRG notes:
On 23rd June 2014, the Court convened a special meeting to address the
Minister’s request and, after examining the reasoning behind his
request, the Court decided unanimously to reject the request of the
Minister “for being contrary to the applicable legal contexts in Iraq.”
It is worth noting here that the Minister’s claims were based on his
own interpretation of constitutional provisions to claim that the oil
and gas affairs fall within the exclusive powers of the federal
government. In so claiming, the Minister was relying on the centralized
laws enacted prior to 2003, thus ignoring the fact that current
constitutional provisions do not incorporate any oil and gas matters
within Article 110, which defines the exclusive powers of the federal
government.

With this Court decision, the Kurdistan Regional Government has another
important clarification of its acquired rights as stated in the
Constitution. The Court ruling was taken by a unanimous decision of all
its members, and it explicitly rejected the request made by the
Minister. Such a decision by the highest court in the land is binding on
the Minister and cannot be challenged in any way.
This is a clear victory for justice and for upholding KRG’s rights,
despite the Iraqi Federal Oil Ministry‘s interferences and unjustifiable
interventions. This decision clearly demonstrates that the Federal Oil
ministry and its marketing arm (SOMO) will also fail on all their
reckless efforts on the international level. This judicial decision by the Supreme Federal Court must be respected,
and now we call upon the Federal Oil Ministry, SOMO and all their
helpers to abandon their illegal and unconstitutional interventions to
prevent oil exports from the Kurdistan Region. They must also cease
sending intimidating and threatening letters or making false claims to
prospective traders and buyers of oil exported legally by the Kurdistan
Regional Government for the benefit of the people of Kurdistan and Iraq.

And that decision came down before Marie's latest flapping of the gums on this issue.

Marie and State should have been aware of the verdict.

They should also be aware that their active support and embrace of Nouri -- which was never backed by the law as they tried to claim -- looks even more repugnant and ill thought.

The Kurds are not only an oppressed people, they've been the ones to attempt to work with the US government for decades -- even though the US government has repeatedly turned on them. What a slap in the face the US government has repeatedly delivered to the Kurds over the oil issue.

Nouri's failure to pass an oil law is the US government's failure since he's repeatedly promised to pass one since 2006 and now, 8 years later, there's still no oil and gas law.

Marie and State should be pressed now, with a legal verdict being delivered, on where they stand? And why this verdict is not supposed to change anything?

About Me

We do not open attachments. Stop e-mailing them. Threats and abusive e-mail are not covered by any privacy rule. This isn't to the reporters at a certain paper (keep 'em coming, they are funny). This is for the likes of failed comics who think they can threaten via e-mails and then whine, "E-mails are supposed to be private." E-mail threats will be turned over to the FBI and they will be noted here with the names and anything I feel like quoting.
This also applies to anyone writing to complain about a friend of mine. That's not why the public account exists.